pressf1forhelp
5+ Year Contributor
- 32
- 3
- Nov 24, 2017
-
Oceanside,
California
Hello fellow dsmers! I have acquired a 97 Eclipse GST and have owned it for about 8 months now. Please excuse my long post, but the more you know is probably for the best.
Car History:
This car had two previous owners. Some guy bought it back in 97 and put 100k (bought the car with 165k and I've put 13k on it) and then decided to garage it for 5 years. He called up his cousin (the man I purchased the vehicle from) and basically told him if he could get it in running condition the car was his. Now its my little gem in my life and is close to immaculate condition. Car runs beautifully and pulls really nicely. Both of the previous owners were mechanics, so when I bought the car a lot was done to it. All listed below was done by the seller himself (so no records, but I've maintained plenty of cars myself so I took a good look for any bs):
-New clutch and flywheel (new meaning new not resurfaced)
-4 New tires, rotors (again, not resurfaced) and brake pads.
-New front axle and tie rods
-Full exhaust and intake system
- -Insert generic spring and shock set here-
- Recently replaced the oil pan gasket and a motor mount (done at a shop, my new landlord is not very fond of me doing repairs in my car port)
- Everything else to my knowledge is stock
My current to do list:
-Upstream 02 sensor is dead (check the CEL code)
-Cat is most likely on its way out
-Intake system is most likely not street legal
-Timing belt in the next couple of months
-All of the above made my car not pass smog...but you know how that goes. *cough* *cough*
Anyways, on to the topic of my post.
So two days ago I'm driving my normal commute to work and I look at my gauges (as I do constantly) and my temperature was up 1/4 past normal operating temperatures. I was traveling 75-80 MPH with very little boost pressure built up. I get off the freeway and travel to work and strangely the temperature begins to fall back to normal operating temperature as I drive on surface streets (?).
Things I've done to try to diagnose the problem over the past 3 days:
-Checked the rad cap which seems pretty aged (will replace asap)
-While the cap was off, I squeezed the rad-thermostat housing hose to see if I had air in the system or not. Seemed like there was a very minuscule amount that I was able to bleed out with my quick fix.
-Ran the heater to check for smells when the temp. rose and smelled nothing funny but did notice that the higher the gauge went the less heat I was receiving. The air was almost cool.
-Antifreeze seems dirty but not brown or discolored much
While idling the temperature sits nice and safe or like 2cm above. I'm clueless at this point. I'm thinking that the thermostat could possibly be seized but I wont be able to get in there until Monday. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post.
Car History:
This car had two previous owners. Some guy bought it back in 97 and put 100k (bought the car with 165k and I've put 13k on it) and then decided to garage it for 5 years. He called up his cousin (the man I purchased the vehicle from) and basically told him if he could get it in running condition the car was his. Now its my little gem in my life and is close to immaculate condition. Car runs beautifully and pulls really nicely. Both of the previous owners were mechanics, so when I bought the car a lot was done to it. All listed below was done by the seller himself (so no records, but I've maintained plenty of cars myself so I took a good look for any bs):
-New clutch and flywheel (new meaning new not resurfaced)
-4 New tires, rotors (again, not resurfaced) and brake pads.
-New front axle and tie rods
-Full exhaust and intake system
- -Insert generic spring and shock set here-
- Recently replaced the oil pan gasket and a motor mount (done at a shop, my new landlord is not very fond of me doing repairs in my car port)
- Everything else to my knowledge is stock
My current to do list:
-Upstream 02 sensor is dead (check the CEL code)
-Cat is most likely on its way out
-Intake system is most likely not street legal
-Timing belt in the next couple of months
-All of the above made my car not pass smog...but you know how that goes. *cough* *cough*
Anyways, on to the topic of my post.
So two days ago I'm driving my normal commute to work and I look at my gauges (as I do constantly) and my temperature was up 1/4 past normal operating temperatures. I was traveling 75-80 MPH with very little boost pressure built up. I get off the freeway and travel to work and strangely the temperature begins to fall back to normal operating temperature as I drive on surface streets (?).
Things I've done to try to diagnose the problem over the past 3 days:
-Checked the rad cap which seems pretty aged (will replace asap)
-While the cap was off, I squeezed the rad-thermostat housing hose to see if I had air in the system or not. Seemed like there was a very minuscule amount that I was able to bleed out with my quick fix.
-Ran the heater to check for smells when the temp. rose and smelled nothing funny but did notice that the higher the gauge went the less heat I was receiving. The air was almost cool.
-Antifreeze seems dirty but not brown or discolored much
While idling the temperature sits nice and safe or like 2cm above. I'm clueless at this point. I'm thinking that the thermostat could possibly be seized but I wont be able to get in there until Monday. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Sorry for the long post.